Home News Tribune <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>PISCATAWAY — Greg Schiano isn't about to compare past offseasons to the one coming, but the Rutgers football coach admits his schedule is booked for the forseeable future. "We played into January, right? So we're already behind on our (offseason) preparation," Schiano said in his wrap-up press conference Friday. "I've never had an offseason that wasn't work-heavy. But we'll certainly get started on our evaluating because 8-5 wasn't the goal, that's for sure." First, Schiano will wait to hear from Courtney Greene, Rutgers' junior safety who is considering leaving early for the NFL Draft. Schiano said he met with his leading tackler on Friday and expects to hear back from Greene before the NFL's Jan. 15 deadline for underclassmen to declare. Then there's the matter of recruiting. Though Rutgers doesn't have many scholarships remaining for the incoming 2008 class, that doesn't mean Schiano won't spend the next three weeks leading up to the Feb. 6 signing day in the living rooms of some more recruits. While Schiano said he's happy with the dozen already-committed high school seniors, he noted, "I don't know any team in the country that doesn't have needs." Between now and spring camp, Schiano will examine what went wrong in a campaign that failed to live up to lofty preseason expectations. Ranked as high as No. 10 in late September, the Scarlet Knights lost four times over a six-game span and finished 3-4 and tied for fifth in the Big East. Even the highlight of the season, a 30-27 upset over then-No. 2 South Florida in an ESPN Thursday night affair, failed to be validated the following week, when the Scarlet Knights were routed 31-3 by West Virginia. "Am I disappointed? I don't think it's so much disappointed as feeling we were disjointed during the season," said Schiano, adding he believed the season spiraled the moment quarterback Mike Teel injured the thumb on his right throwing hand in the third game against Norfolk State. "We never really got into a flow. I think a lot of that had to do with key injuries to critical guys. Obviously, Mike's hand, but I think losing Ronnie (Girault) at the safety position for the meat of the schedule was a big loss. "But I think there's a lot of positives to come from the year. I think our kids, the way they ended the season, their preparation for the bowl game, grew a lot. It leads us into the spring in a great state of mind." Spring camp figures to bring plenty of questions, the biggest of the bunch being who will fill the void left by Ray Rice, Rutgers' all-time leading rusher who declared for the NFL this week. "Right now, there isn't a No. 1 back," Schiano said, listing Kordell Young, Jourdan Brooks, Mason Robinson and Joe Martinek as the non-freshmen vying for starting tailback honors this spring. "I think it's going to be an intense competition."</div>
